The ‘disturbingly disingenuous’ claims of many bishops

February’s General Synod vote to welcome the House of Bishops’ proposals was momentous and has thus provoked strong reactions.

Christopher Cocksworth, the Bishop of Coventry and leader of the Living in Love and Faith process, observed: ‘The proposed provision has united a broad alliance of evangelical networks, and some significant catholic voices, in suspicion, bewilderment, consternation and, among most [of] the evangelical spectrum, rejection.’

The vote only passed by a thin margin, the pastoral guidance about the ‘blessings’ was missing and, in practice, nothing has happened yet. We await the publication of the guidance, which will replace Issues in Human Sexuality, and then General Synod in July for the final outcome. Nevertheless, from an evangelical perspective, what the bishops have proposed, and what General Synod has now welcomed, for all its careful nuances, goes against the teaching of the Bible.

Of course, the bishops’ proposals claim that there is no change to the doctrine of church. To the whole evangelical constituency of the Church of England, and to the majority of the global Anglican Communion, this claim comes across as disturbingly disingenuous.

Despite the fact nothing has yet changed, but because of the way it has been reported, local vicars are already being asked whether they will perform blessings for same-sex couples. It is hard to tell whether such enquiries are genuine or a set up.

The Church of England Evangelical Council has published a menu of actions which encourages a strong response from evangelicals at every level. Some churches have reacted very quickly by pausing parish share payments or cancelling visitations and confirmations. It is, however, the larger, more well-established and better resourced churches which have taken the most radical courses of action. In no small part this is because they can, and in doing so they consciously seek to make representations for the wider constituency and not just for themselves. It is also true to say that they are not the most adversely affected.

Evangelicals discerning a vocation, or in theological training, or in a curacy, have been dropped into a multi-layered crisis. In the long term, it is a crisis of confidence in the future of the Church of England. Yet is also an immediate crisis of conscience about being licensed by a bishop who has willingly participated in leading the Church of England away from Biblical teaching. Added to that, for many, it is a personal crisis of commitment to a denomination that doesn’t seem to value them.

In many parts of the Church of England, finances are haemorrhaging, or Biblical discipleship is non-existent, or likely both, and yet God has called many evangelical ministers to go into failing parishes and benefices and turn them round. This ministry of revitalisation connects powerfully to the mission of the Church of England. Evangelicals in these situations are exposed to huge pressures from outside and from inside the local church, and now the bishops have put them in the firing line on the most highly charged issue.

There are other equally troubling situations, but to all those who find themselves in such straits I want to say hold on. Structural differentiation may be necessary and may come. It may not be offered by the bishops and it may not be accessible for evangelicals in some situations. Whatever form it might take or not take, evangelicals are not alone and we do no dishonour to God when we suffer the pain of holy distress through being subjected to a failure of spiritual leadership. Though we pray fervently for renewal, we come humbly to the throne of grace in lament.

Rising above all the negative reactions, there has been an overriding positive response in that the broad alliance between evangelicals in the Church of England is also deeply heartfelt and zeal for Biblical truth across the evangelical spectrum has espoused a new and powerful sense of unity in the gospel. If we are going to be defined apart, we first need to be bonded together. Can we be an evangelical community and not simply a constituency?